A known door lock apparatus for a vehicle is disclosed in JP62101782 (which will be hereinbelow referred to as reference 1). According to the door lock apparatus, an electric motor serving as an actuator is rotated selectively in clockwise and counter-clockwise directions. Accordingly, a latch mechanism is switched from an engaged state to a released state relative to the striker or from the released state to the engaged state relative to the striker.
According to the door lock apparatus in reference 1, a lever, which transmits a force of the actuator to the latch mechanism, may be tightly engaged with a member and constrained in a position obtained when the lever switches the state of the latch mechanism. In such a case, the lever may not return to a previous state where the state of the latch mechanism has not yet switched. Therefore, the latch mechanism may malfunction.
A need thus exists for a door lock apparatus for a vehicle which is not susceptible to the drawback mentioned above.